Interfaith

Year five pupils from Moriah Primary in Pinner enjoyed a trip to Arsenal's Emirates stadium as part of the club's interfaith education programme.

The Premier League-funded Arsenal for Everyone scheme brought together children from several London schools and a variety of religious backgrounds. Run jointly by Arsenal in the Community and the Islington Faith Forum, the scheme combined sessions about the major world religions with football coaching to encourage teamwork and respect.

Representatives from each religion also addressed pupils on the importance of their faith.

Religious, business and community leaders, including two US rabbis, have spent five days in Nazareth forging connections with Arab businesses and charities, in the first trip of its kind organised by the UK Taskforce on Israeli Arab Citizens.

Stories of Albanian Muslims who saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust are the focus of a campaign for better interfaith relations.

Run by the Exploring Islam Foundation, Missing Pages was launched at the House of Lords in the week of Holocaust Memorial Day. The campaign features an exhibition of photography by Norman Gershman featuring Muslims who protected Jews.

If anyone had asked me 10 or even five years ago if relationships between Christians and Jews could exist outside the Israel-Palestinian conflict my answer would have been "of course. It's barely relevant."

I am now nowhere near as sure. Whether we like it or not, Jews have become inextricably bound up with how our Israeli brothers and sisters treat Palestinians and how their plight is perceived.

I have just returned from Berlin where I attended a conference with the Council of Christians and Jews to look at the possibility of trilateral discussions involving Muslims, Christians and Jews and historical narratives.

The common theme for the future seemed to be what Abraham means to the three faiths, and two fascinating days were spent discussing how this great prophet could be a bridge for interfaith discussions between the three faiths.

Visitors enjoyed a look at the work of Muslim, Christian and Jewish artists at the Interfaith Arts Festival in London last week.

Held at the Candid Arts Gallery in Islington, the festival was organised by the Three Faiths Forum to mark National Interfaith Week

Stephen Shashoua, director of the Three Faiths Forum, said: "London is an incredibly diverse city, but there are very few opportunities for people to really engage at this level with anyone outside their own religious or cultural group.

A Ugandan Jew who grew up under the Idi Amin regime is hoping to become the first rabbi serving in a national parliament outside of Israel or Europe.

If Gershom Sizomu is elected he will also be the first Ugandan Jew elected to national office.

The African country goes to the polls in February 2011 and this week Rabbi Sizomu will find out if his application to stand for the parliamentary seat of Bungonkho North, in the city of Mbale, has been accepted by the electoral commission.

Born in Buenos Aires, his Russian-Jewish parents taught him piano from the age of five and by seven he was performing in public. When he was 11 the family moved to Tel Aviv.

At a young age he attracted the attention of renowned conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who described the young musician as “a phenomenon”. By 1957, Barenboim was playing Prokofiev professionally on a New York stage and is now known as one of the most influential conductors in the world.